Tuskegee Institute track star Alice Coachman was the first black female athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. At the 1948 London Olympics, Coachman set an Olympic record in the [more]

Oneonta native Bryan Kirkland is a gold medal US Paralympian. He was a member of the 2000 and 2008 gold medal teams in wheelchair rugby and won bronze in 2004. [more]

Mobile native Leroy “Satchel” Paige was one of the finest pitchers in baseball and certainly the most durable. Early in his career, he played for the Birmingham Black Barons and [more]

Born Melvin Allen Israel, Jefferson County native, Mel Allen, delivered the radio play-by-play for the New York Yankees for 25 years at the height of the team’s success and was [more]

Often referred to as the “World’s Greatest Archer,” Shelby County native Howard Hill was an internationally famous archer best known for his trick shots and prowess as a hunter. He [more]

Former basketball player and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is one of Alabama’s most recognizable sports stars. Nicknamed “the Round Mound of Rebound” and “Sir Charles,” the Leeds native had [more]

Born in Fairfield, Alabama, Willie Mays is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. In 22 major league seasons, mostly with the New York, and later, [more]

Few individuals in the history of American sport have possessed greater athletic ability than Bessemer, Alabama native Vincent “Bo” Jackson. Auburn University’s second Heisman Trophy winner, a three-time All- SEC [more]

Birmingham native Vonetta Flowers is an American bobsledder. Originally a track and field star, in 2000 she turned her attention to bobsledding and quickly became the top brake woman in [more]

In the late 1960s, NASCAR founder Bill France was scouting locations for a new race track that would rival the size and speed of Daytona.  Eventually he settled on an [more]